Kiwi teacher in Oz Penthouse nude pics shame will become a 'test case'

Published: Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 15:37 [IST]

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Wellington, Oct 28 (ANI): A Kiwi teacher who posted her steamy naked photographs on a pornographic website will become a 'test case' for new rules preventing teachers from bringing the profession into disrepute.

The New Zealand Teachers Council launched investigation into 26-year-old Rachel Whitwell after she appeared in the "New Aussie Babes""" section of the Australian Penthouse magazine's website, professing to love pornography.

The photographs show Whitwell kneeling seductively in front of a piano and frolicking in a spa, and quote the woman, nicknamed "Lexy""".

Although not working in schools, Whitwell is a registered teacher, eligible to return to the job until September 2011.

Teachers Council director Peter Lind said Whitwell's case would test new rules preventing a teacher from bringing the profession into disrepute.

"The issue would be, does this impact or impair her ability to carry out her professional responsibilities and duties as a teacher?" Stuff.co.nz quoted Lind as saying.

"It is an interesting point of discussion for the profession itself.

"We're slowly building up a body of case law around that to help inform those kinds of decisions," Lind added.

In 2007, the council censured, but did not strike off, a teacher who posted images of himself and his partner in lewd poses on a public website.

At that time, Lind said that the council did not have the rule on disrepute.

"Teachers do carry a role-model responsibility that can't be ignored. In that previous case, the council did not have the criteria of 'bringing the profession into disrepute', and that criteria has now been established," Lind said.